SUV Owners Shouldn't Read This

newspaper syndication ^ | March 22, 2003 | Donald "Lefty" Kaul

[newgeezer]

There are few things more misleadingly named than the Sports Utility Vehicle, which is neither sporty nor particularly utilitarian.

Oh, it's advertised as useful, I'll grant you that. And maybe it is, if you live in a remote mountain village where you occasionally have to drive over a rock-strewn field in bad weather to get where you're going. But most of the people who do things like that wouldn't be caught sober in one of the modern, fancy-schmansy SUVs, with the soft ride and the leather seats and cup-holders. (Real mountain people drive pickup trucks with a gun-rack in back of their heads.)

No, SUVs are bought, for the most part, by city folk, many of them suburban mothers who use them to cart kids around, with side trips to the supermarket. They claim that they buy them because they are:

1. Roomy (for the kids, you know)
2. Safe (don't want to be out there in a tin can)
3. Able to travel in inclement weather (because of the four-wheel drive so many of them have)

Which would be fine, except that none of those things is true. By the numbers:

1. Even the biggest SUVs (and there are some monsters) don't have any more passenger room than, say, a full-sized minivan, which costs thousands of dollars less and is easier to park.
2. SUVs have the distinction of being both more dangerous to themselves and more dangerous to other cars than other vehicles. Because of their high center of gravity, they have a distressing tendency to roll over and their fatality rates are higher than traditional vehicles (6 percent higher on the average; 8 percent in the bigger models). However, because of their huge size, in a collision with a normal-sized car, they are more apt to kill the occupants of the other vehicle. A Chevy Tahoe, for example, kills 122 people for every 1 million models on the road, while a Honda Accord kills only 21. This what's known as a lose/lose situation.
3. Inclement weather? Don't make me laugh. People with SUVs think inclement weather is when you can't play golf. For the occasional snowy day in most areas there are better ways to get around. SUVs are not the only four-wheel drive vehicles around anymore, after all. There are cars with all- and four-wheel drive that are superior in every way to your average SUV.

Every way except one. You can't bully other vehicles with a car the way you can with an SUV. And that's what the extraordinary popularity of the SUV is about---bullying.

Keith Bradsher, a New York Times reporter who been waging a crusade against SUVs for years now, has just published a book, High and Mighty, which documents the case against the vehicle. In it he quotes market researchers who have found that the SUV craze is "about not letting anything get in your way and at the extreme, about intimidating others to get out of your way."

SUV buyers, the researchers say, tend to be "insecure and vain, often lack confidence in their driving skills [and] are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in neighbors and communities."

Does that sound familiar or what? Picture the typical SUV driver---the beady, close-set eyes of a serial killer set above a snarl that could curdle a latte. And that's just the women. The men are worse. Think of Hitler's Panzer divisions invading Poland.

On top of every else, these behemoths handle badly, get lousy gas mileage, are exempt from the safety standards that regular cars have to meet and don't have to pay the luxury tax that similarly priced cars have to pay. (It's called campaign contributions.)

Let's face it, they are an unmitigated disaster; assault rifles with power steering. If a terrorist country was trying to do to us what the SUV is doing, we'd be bombing it by now.

Yet the SUV has become the backbone of the American auto industry, and, as such, is with us forever or until the gasoline runs out, whichever comes first.

[RnMomof7]

I live in Buffalo..I NEED my SUV...
Did anyone note that last week end when the President was snowed in Camp David..they had a SUV motorcade?

[newgeezer]

A Chevy Tahoe, for example, kills 122 people for every 1 million models on the road, while a Honda Accord kills only 21.

Even if that statistic is true and unbiased, it may say just as much or more about the people who drive them as it does about the vehicles.

[vin-one]

SUV buyers, the researchers say, tend to be "insecure and vain, often lack confidence in their driving skills [and] are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in neighbors and communities."

Yep, that's me, all of the above and much much more
Plus I got rid of my mini-van, and got my ford exploder
becuase when you drive up in a mini-van, Not one hot chick will even look your way
now in a SUV, you might get the quick glance,
I guess I am vain, oh, well, call me a Republican......

[mountaineer]

People with SUVs think inclement weather is when you can't play golf.

No, we think it's when we get 20 inches of snow, like we did over a two-day period this past February.

For the occasional snowy day in most areas there are better ways to get around.

Yes, well I don't have a horse and sleigh.

SUVs are not the only four-wheel drive vehicles around anymore, after all. There are cars with all- and four-wheel drive that are superior in every way to your average SUV.

No, they're not superior, they're just different.

Every way except one. You can't bully other vehicles with a car the way you can with an SUV. And that's what the extraordinary popularity of the SUV is about---bullying.

What drug is this guy smoking? Does he get paid by the generalization? Having replaced a four-door sedan with a small SUV (for the 4wd and the cargo capacity), I can honestly say that bullying never came into the decisionmaking process. Who feels bullied by a Ford Escape, anyway? That's like feeling bullied by a cocker spaniel. LOL, what a moron.

[mad puppy]

Caravan owner ( Grand Caravan, '97)
Suburban owner (GMC, '99, with leather btw)

While I can get my kids (5) into the van, the van simply doesn't handle it. I'm having transmission problems, again, right now in fact. If I'm the only one in the van then it only survives in the Colorado mountains and due to the low ground clearance was kept in the garage during the recent snow in Denver.

The suburban, which the wife now gets to drive, can easily handle the rough treatment that kids dish out; it easily handles the mountain highways in Colorado; and was a lot of fun during the recent 40 inch snowstorm in Denver.

The van does get better gas mileage, but when we got rear ended in the Suburban about a year ago, I didn't much care about that. Funny thing is...the van that hit us was banged up bad on the front end (I'd guess $2K min.). There was $0.00 damage to my Suburban, to me, to my wife. The kids thought I hit a bump and wanted to do it again. I'm willing to pay the gas prices for that.

I will be selling that stupid van this spring if anyone is interested, and replace with a regular car. The Suburban is not for sale.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

complete and utter drivel...hes obviously never done any off road stuff.


Only in a Jeep.

The wily ol Captain...

[astounded]

Those are the ones that are so much fun to squash...you may not even hear the impact.

[Domestic Church]

Can't get out of our "driveway" without one in snow or even heavy rain. We have a Dodge caravan but that thing is dangerous in inclement weather - no traction what so ever on back country roads (they oil the roads around here every year.)

[Constitution Day]

I guess you think Corvette owners are NOT "pousers"?

[biblewonk]

This is America, how dare this guy express an opinion!

[irish_links]

"...I've yet to see one of them start themselves up and go out around town looking for innocent victims...."

Your are just parroting one of Rush Limbaugh's weaker conceits. "SUV's don't kill, the drivers of SUV's kill."

That may be true as far as it goes, but it does not refute the foundation of the cited statistic. A Large SUV is more likely to kill passengers of a car in which it is involved in an accident than a smaller passenger car like a Honda accord. Pressumably, in a large population the drivers of Hondas and Tahoes are of equal ability (although the SUV driver is likely to have a higher testosterone level). Therefore, it must be the size and nature of the vehicle that accounts for the kill rate discrepancy. Thus, the nature of the SUV itself is dangerous.

The writer of this article is clearly a left-wing sissy. Having said that, he makes some valid points.

I don't have anything against SUVs, but many people buy them for the wrong reasons. As a result, quite a few people are dead or paralyzed right now and a lot of hydrocarbons have been wasted. It's a free country, but that doesn't excuse stupid decision making.

[Myrddin]

I moved from California to Idaho with a Saturn SL2, a Saturn SW2 and a Porsche 914. The Porsche has been sitting in the garage and will have a new owner shortly. The Saturn cars have been very good. The polymer body panels don't rust in a salty road environment that is typical of winter in Idaho. We have had little snow since we moved in December of 2000. The one day that the snow piled to 18 inches, we were totally screwed. My wife could not get the car beyond the end of the driveway. The city does not plough our street because it is a very tight cul-de-sac. We are going to need a 4 wheel drive with significant ground clearance as a safe means of travel when we get some normal winter weather here in southeast Idaho.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I bought an SUV after my first extended cab pickup wore out. It was a jeep. Then, I bought an Expedition. Now, I'm driving a Suburban. Nine passenger, no 4WD. I DON'T need the 4WD but I do need the room. For the children. We have an 11 y.o. and two grandchildren and two grown children and their spouses. I offered to buy a minivan, but my husband said he would never ride in it. He did offer to buy me a BMW convertable, same price, but it wouldn't hold everybody and their car seats, and the baby gear going on vacation.

I don't think I'm an aggressive driver. I try not to tailgate, and little cars pass me quite often.

My son and his wife will be moving in the fall, and taking the granchildren with them. Then, I may let my husband buy me the BMW.

[nina0113]

I love my station wagon. I thought I wanted an SUV til I got it.

Station wagons were replaced by SUV's because SUVs don't have to meet the mileage standards for cars because they count as trucks.

[Knuckle Sandwich Combo]

Yet the SUV has become the backbone of the American auto industry...

Anti-SUV = Anti-Capitalism

[www.corvettewave.com]

Corvette owners do not buy 6000lb 4 wheel drive SUV's to drive to soccer practice. They buy cars that are used for their intended purpose.

[Doomonyou]

IMHO my 2001 4X4 F-100 will keep me safe. I do need it to do 4WD thing when I work and play.

Same here, except I drive a GMC Z-71.

I'll give it up when you peel my cold dead hands from the steering wheel.

Ditto that! Plus I'm not going to put my family in a "Yugo" to save the environment or anything else. They are in a tank to protect them!

[Viiraxe]

Lol, I couldn't agree more about always having to pass slow-moving SUVs. If there's anything I ever actually feel bullied by, it's the occaisional 18-wheeler that needs to slow the heck down.